


Give me luck (I'll probably need it)

by superangsty



Series: Give me luck [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, Lots of kissing, M/M, clint and natasha are platonic soulmates tbh, except theres not actually that much kissing, oblivious phil and clint are oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 06:59:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2803700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superangsty/pseuds/superangsty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint always seems to be kissing Natasha. Phil isn't quite sure how he feels about this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give me luck (I'll probably need it)

SHIELD didn’t exactly have fraternisation rules. Considering the fact nobody outside of the organisation was allowed to know where you worked, relationships with co-workers was, logically, the best option for most agents. Despite the trouble it could cause if anything turned out bad, relationships like these were, if anything, encouraged, mainly due to the fact that it prevented secrets from being given away. Plus, if the two agents worked together, it was shown to greatly improve the efficiency of their work.

Take agents Barton and Romanoff, for example.

Agent Barton had previously been infamous for his insubordination, and even working with Coulson, who was known to be able to tame anybody, had no effect on his behaviour. But the minute he brought in agent Romanoff, he suddenly became a model agent, doing everything he was told and performing far better in the field. Phil had no doubt that Romanoff was the reason for this change in behaviour. Even Romanoff, Black Widow, the world’s most deadly assassin, seemed to mellow slightly when working alongside Barton.

They were the perfect team, so of course Phil hadn’t been surprised upon discovering that they were together. It made complete sense.

Which was why he didn’t understand the surge of disappointment he felt the first time he saw them kiss.

 

~***~

 

Clint understood perfectly well that SHIELD didn’t have fraternisation rules. Not that it mattered, because the only person he was interested in fraternizing with was totally oblivious to his advances. And he had made a _lot_ of advances.

There had been others, of course. Clint wasn’t about to go abstinent just because he had some stupid unrequited love thing going on. But nothing ever lasted. Perhaps it was because Clint had unconsciously pushed them away, or perhaps it was because they had realised that his affections would always lie somewhere else. He had stopped questioning it after the first few times. It had never really mattered much, it wasn’t like he cared about any of the people that had left him.

At least, he hadn’t cared until Natasha.

Natasha was fiery, and brilliant, and Clint knew from the minute he laid eyes on her that she would be important. He figured that she must have felt the same way, since she didn’t kill him on sight. And he pulled so many strings and made so many promises in order to get her into SHIELD, and he didn’t regret it for a second. They fit together perfectly, and soon enough everybody forgot about the terrible lives they had led before each other, because they were so in awe of what they accomplished as a pair.

They tried sleeping together, just the once, back when Clint was still trying to get over his feelings for Coulson, and Natasha was trying to get over whatever it was she had gone through (Clint wasn’t entirely sure what that was, she didn’t like to talk about it). They had laughed about it afterwards, and silently agreed that they were better off as they were.

The next day, before they set off on a mission, Clint had kissed Natasha. He didn’t know why, it had just felt like the right thing to do. The mission had turned out almost perfectly, and after that, the kissing just sort of became a habit.

 

~***~

 

Phil was in love with Clint. If he was being honest with himself, he had been in love with him from the second he walked into his office. He was almost sure that Clint knew about his feelings, because, as subtle as he tried to be, he still sometimes got flustered around him, and occasionally his gaze would linger for just a moment too long, leaving Phil panicking that his cover had been blown. Even if Clint, by some miracle, hadn’t noticed, Natasha almost definitely had, and she told Clint everything, so…yeah. Clint almost definitely knew.

Although, if he did know, he hadn’t mentioned it. Perhaps he was just trying to spare his feelings, make it less awkward between the two of them. After all, Phil was still his boss, and neither of them would want to risk something going wrong at work just because Phil had let his feelings get carried away. And even if Clint did know, it wouldn’t matter, because he could never feel the same way. It was obvious to anyone that met him that his heart belonged to Natasha.

Ignoring whatever was going on between Clint and Natasha was very difficult, because everywhere he looked, there they were. In the canteen, eating their meals together, and even when Clint waved him over, Phil would politely decline sitting with them, instead taking his food up to his office. He didn’t want to intrude. In the gym, and the shooting range, they were together, sparring or doing target practice, and any idea Phil had about asking Clint to join him in his training promptly left his head when he saw the two of them there. And, possibly worst of all, there was the kissing. Natasha and Clint always seemed to be kissing, and yes, maybe Phil was a tiny bit jealous, and maybe he sort of wished it was him instead of Natasha, but he never said a thing to anybody.

The truth was, no matter how far in love he fell, Phil would never tell a single person, because Clint was taken, and besides, it was unprofessional.

 

~***~

 

Clint was in love with Phil. He had been trying to get over him for years, but to no avail. He didn’t _want_ to be in love with Phil. People didn’t fall in love with Clint Barton, and so, in order to not get his heart broken, Clint Barton did not fall in love. Which was why the idea of Phil Coulson scared him so much.

There had been a few times where Clint had thought that there might perhaps be the faintest possibility that there was a chance of Phil liking him back, could have sworn he’d caught him staring, but then the moment he decided to look at Phil again, his eyes had moved away from him, and he told himself that it was just his brain showing him what he wanted to see, rather than accept the cold hard truth that Phil was not interested.

Being single was not a choice on Clint’s behalf. He had been out with people whose company he genuinely enjoyed, had even asked Phil out on dates many, many times. He always figured that he would need all the luck he could get, and so each time he managed to work up the courage to ask, he would go and kiss Natasha, because if it can bring him luck on missions, then he was sure that it would bring him luck with this too. But each time, Phil would politely decline, saying that he was too busy, or that he wasn’t hungry, and really, what kind of an excuse was that? Most times, Phil would quietly suggest that Clint go with Natasha instead, and Clint wanted to scream with frustration, because as much as he loved Natasha, he wasn’t _in love_ with her, and all he wanted was one date. One date with Phil so he could get over his stupid crush and get on with life.

 

~***~

 

Clint was going to give up on Phil, he’d decided. He couldn’t deal with just getting yet another rejection from him, so that was it. He was done.

“Tasha, I am going to give up on Phil.” He announced, letting himself in to her apartment and flopping onto the sofa.

The redhead looked up at him from her book, raising an eyebrow “And you’ve decided to do this because…?”

“ _Because_ he obviously isn’t interested. I don’t even know why I bothered in the first place.”

Natasha cursed under her breath, leaning forwards in her chair and hitting him round the head with her book. It was a big book. Probably going to bruise. It was only years of working with Natasha that stopped him from flinching at the blow.

“What the hell was that for?!” Clint sat up, rubbing his head, because even though he’d suffered much, much worse injuries than this, he was still going to complain about it to Natasha for weeks.

“Because you’re an idiot” she replied, standing up as she spoke “Right. Get up. We are going to go to HQ, and I am going to explain a few things to you in the car.”

Clint nodded and got up quickly, following her out of the door, because clearly she meant business, which meant that there was no way in hell he would be able to get her to change her mind about whatever plan she had made up in the few seconds that their conversation had lasted.

 

~***~

 

They were standing outside Phil’s office. Clint was ready to bolt, because he had literally only decided to give up on Phil a few minutes ago, and now here he was, standing outside his office, preparing to ask him out (and fail) yet again. But Natasha was glaring at him, and he had no doubt in his mind that she would shoot him if he tried to get away, so it looked like he would have to go through with it.

“Now, you remember what I told you to say, right?”

“Yes, yes, I remember. Not going to change his answer, but I don’t really have any other options, do I?”

She smirked, saying “No you most certainly do not. Now go and get your man.”

Clint was about to argue over that last statement, but figured he would just be fighting a losing battle, so he instead just gave a sigh of defeat “Okay, I’m going, I swear.”

But when he went to get his usual good luck kiss, she gave him a gentle slap and pushed him away. “Not exactly going to help your cause. Now go.”

Which was how he found himself in Phil’s office.

Coulson was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain his presence in his office, and wow, Natasha really had been right. He had never noticed the way that Phil looked at him before, and as much love as Clint hoped he was seeing in those eyes, he also noticed an obvious sense of defeat, and he just wanted to go over to his desk and hold him and tell him that it was fine, that he felt the same way too.

It was only when he heard the words “Barton? Did you need something?” that he realised he’d been staring, and his thoughts trailed off again in thinking about whether he looks at Phil in the same way.

“Oh- um… I uh…” He was at a loss for words. He had never once in his entire life been at a loss for words, and he had no reason to be, Natasha had gone over exactly what he was meant to say on the drive over.

Phil looked at him patiently, waiting for him to continue speaking, so he blurted out “I’m not dating Natasha.”

And then there was another look in Phil’s eyes, which he couldn’t quite place, as he replied “Did you two break up? I hope this won’t affect your work.”

“No! Um- no, we were uh- we were never together.” This conversation was most definitely not going as planned. He had already worked out his options for escaping.

“But you, and her, and… kissing. How do you explain that if you weren’t together?”

Trying to hide his surprise at the fact that he had just seen _Phil Coulson_ at a loss for words, he quickly explained “That was just a luck thing, it’s stupid, I know…”

“It’s not stupid, everyone has superstitions.” There was a pause, before he continued “Was that all you wanted to talk to me about? Because I need to get back to my work.”

He had no idea what to say to that, and so naturally ended up messing up what was meant to be a smooth response wherein he would manage to successfully seduce Phil into going on a date with him. “I want it to be you- I uh- I mean, I would rather kiss… No, I mean- would you want to…? I um- I- go on a date? With me.”

Phil went bright red at that, getting up and standing in front of Clint, who he pulled down into a kiss, saying nothing.

There were a lot more kisses after that.

And only some of them were for luck.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading! (I know the ending sucked I'm sorry I'm awful at endings) If you have anything to say, or want to correct a mistake, please feel free to comment!
> 
> Also, I now have a [tumblr](http://superangsty.tumblr.com), so feel free to check it out!


End file.
